M. B. M. (Mary Bertha McKenzie) Toland

Born Mary Bertha McKenzie, she is generally listed as M. B. M. Toland and dated 1825?–1895 in library and reference records. She wrote poetry and fiction, and her surviving bibliography shows a steady output of verse narratives and imaginative works in the late nineteenth century.

Her books include Aegle and the Elf, Atlina, Queen of the Floating Isle, Eudora, Legend Laymone, Sir Rae, Stella, and Tisáyac of the Yosemite. Those titles suggest the range of her interests: romance, fantasy, legend, and California subject matter.

Although she is not widely known today, her work remains part of the record of nineteenth-century American writing, especially the literary world connected with California and the West. A contemporary portrait and bibliographic records have helped preserve her place in that history.